Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) lived a long and influential life following the release of his first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, in 1845. My Bondage and My Freedom followed in 1855; his third autobiography, The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, was published in 1881.

Douglass was active in the abolitionist movement before the Civil War, lecturing in England during the 1840s. He became acquainted with President Abraham Lincoln and gave an impromptu speech at Lincoln's memorial. After the war, he became a bank president, served as marshal of the District of Columbia, and was ambassador to the Dominican Republic. He was nominated for vice president (without his knowledge or participation) of the Equal Rights Party before become a federal marshal in 1877. He continued to lecture on the rights of Negroes. He married a white feminist in 1884 and became involved in the women's rights movement.

Douglass' activity with the abolition movement propels him into the pantheon of American greatness. Certainly, to have endured the trials of slavery and written about it was powerful enough. In its own right, this would make Douglass an active agent of American History. However, his work as a tireless advocate for the abolition of slavery is what makes Douglass into a figure of heroic proportions. Working with William Lloyd Garrison on publishing literature that was intended to raise consciousness to the issue of slavery and then working on his own accord, Douglass gave speeches, wrote articles, and never wavered in fighting for the elimination of America's "original sin," and ensuring that the nation ensured its reality through acknowledging its promises to all Americans.

Just to add a bit more. . .Douglass was, as mentioned at the end of the first editor's response, an advocate for women's rights. He attended the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention in 1848, and he publicly supported documents such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton's "Declarations of Sentiments and Resolutions." Some women's rights advocates at the time, however, criticized Douglass's intentions, stating that he only supported women's rights as secondary to rights for blacks and African Americans.